Got my elk back from butcher...somethings fishy

[pianoman9701]

I'm trying to give the butcher the benefit of the doubt. Accidents happen, people make honest mistakes. Still, I feel this business has made several mistakes:

1) they massively underestimated how long it would take to process my elk - they said 3 weeks originally.
2) they took 2+months to process the animal. (it was not 3 months)
3) during that time they did not return my calls - I left several messages during regular business hours (no one answered the phone)
4) they did not follow my order instructions
5) they were missing completely missing part of my order
6) the manager had to ask me how much I brought in when came to pick up the order because according to him the employee that weighted in my meat did not record it.

I just expect a business/owner to act professionally regardless of how busy are. I don't think this chain of events reflects professionalism.

I would report them to the WDFW. There may even be a wastage charge applicable. It sounds ridiculous to me, the amount of time is suspect, the weight is suspect, their lack of response is suspect.

[KFhunter]

Can butchers accept Elk meat as a tip?  Maybe he just wanted his 50% gratuity.   


                             

[92xj]

Sir.....sounds like you have been royally screwed. I'd be bent so far outta shape its not funny.

Now that you have reached this point have you had any feedback from the business regarding the employee that did the cutting? Have you begun to discuss how you will be compensated?

Accidents do happen, people do make mistakes. However whether it be a butcher, an outfitter, or a taxidermist, if there is no communication, an apparent disregard for order instructions, a gross delay on processing, and apparent complete disregard for honest business practices then they get what they deserve.

It's never their own fault.

[h20hunter]

Roger that!

[KFhunter]

I'm trying to give the butcher the benefit of the doubt. Accidents happen, people make honest mistakes. Still, I feel this business has made several mistakes:

1) they massively underestimated how long it would take to process my elk - they said 3 weeks originally.
2) they took 2+months to process the animal. (it was not 3 months)
3) during that time they did not return my calls - I left several messages during regular business hours (no one answered the phone)
4) they did not follow my order instructions
5) they were missing completely missing part of my order
6) the manager had to ask me how much I brought in when came to pick up the order because according to him the employee that weighted in my meat did not record it.

I just expect a business/owner to act professionally regardless of how busy are. I don't think this chain of events reflects professionalism.

I would report them to the WDFW. There may even be a wastage charge applicable. It sounds ridiculous to me, the amount of time is suspect, the weight is suspect, their lack of response is suspect.

I would even suggest they send in an undercover warden to buy elk meat out the back door.   Well, maybe when Cenci is gone that is.

[92xj]

Roger that!

To be clear I was referencing businesses in general not the OP.

[Michelle_Nelson]

Interesting how much heavier the northern deer are. I didn't weigh the ones I took up there BITD. Down where I live in the southwest with hotter climates they must be much smaller bodied deer overall. I process them all myself and am usually doing good to put 40pounds of packages of meat in the freezer.

Does in GA on Average were 100-130 on the hoof, the heaviest I weighed was 180ish lbs.  Bucks on average went 140-175.  Mature Bucks that came in 6 years or older went roughly 175-225lbs.  The heaviest buck I weighted went close to 300lbs.

[_TONY_]

Then again things happen and people get busy and forget.  It gets really busy for butchers that time of year.  Things get overlooked or forgotten once in a while. 

I think once they are done with the wrapping, since he ordered no special products, it would have been really simple to call and say " hey your order is ready for pickup"... I can't see how they didn't notice a box of wrapped meat sitting there DONE for like two months... 

[Band]

No question about it, this meat processor needs to be called out and raked over the coals!

There IS a question about it, Band. Witch hunts don't flatter our reputation as a forum community. 

There are two sides to most stories and the butcher deserves his day in "court" if we are going to run yet another a kangaroo court. Namely, its entirely possible that the severe meat shortage is explained by sloppy field care. IDK whether that's the case but having killed a few critters in my day I can see how a few sloppy habits can cause significant spoilage or waste.

Its entirely to unfair to a butcher to drag him over the coals if he was handed 100 pounds of boned out meat and 50% of it was filthy and expect that 100 pounds be delivered. I sure wouldn't go into business to put up with that.

Had the customer reported getting his meat back in a reasonable amount of time and simply complained about the lack of final product compared to what he brought in, I would not have wanted the business called out.  Simply because, as you suggest, we are only getting one side of the story and the meat very well could have been brought in with a lot of dirt, hair, or spoilage.  However, when the customer reports his order taking 3 months to be complete that is an enormous red flag that cannot be overlooked.  No above board butcher on the face of the earth will take 3 months to process a game animal and that tells me there is funny business going on at the processor.

[Michelle_Nelson]

Then again things happen and people get busy and forget.  It gets really busy for butchers that time of year.  Things get overlooked or forgotten once in a while. 

I think once they are done with the wrapping, since he ordered no special products, it would have been really simple to call and say " hey your order is ready for pickup"... I can't see how they didn't notice a box of wrapped meat sitting there DONE for like two months... 

Have you ever worked for or been into a Butchers Shop?  In the back where the work is done, meat is hung, and butchered meat is stored?

There isn't just 1 box sitting around with one persons animal in it.  One Whole average size Elk with no special requests (sausage, peperstix, etc) should fill 3-5 Boxes depending on the size of the Box and the size of the Elk. 

I worked 4 seasons (3months each) for a Butcher / Game Processor.  We typically had at least 1-3 people out back skinning and gutting deer and getting them hung up in the coolers, 2-5 people cutting and wrapping, making sausage and doing other special orders, and 1 dedicated person making phone calls and doing paper work. Not including the Owner.  People moved around and helped where they were needed.

During the busiest part of the season, which lasted about 6-8 weeks.  During the week days we brought in 10-40 deer a day.  On Saturday and Sunday between 80-200 deer each weekend.  We had 2-300 Deer in the cooler waiting to be processed.  That's not including Wild Pigs, the occasional farm Pigs, Beef, etc.

I can't remember exactly what the count was at the end of the season but I believe it was around 3000-3,500 Deer Processed in a 3-4 month period.  The majority of Deer fit in 1-2 Boxes, occasionally a 3rd box was required.  I don't remember how large the freezer was that the boxes of meat were kept but I know there were easily 200-300 boxes of meat in there for around 6-8 weeks during the busiest time of season.  They tried to keep orders together as much as possible and organized.   

Do you honestly think a Business with multiple employees, over half being seasonal, can run a perfectly flawless business?

Every year they handled the exact same complaints.  "We should have more meat than this", "our order was cut wrong", etc. 

 

[grundy53]

Luckily for the butchers up here the bag limits are a lot less generous and demand is a lot less over all.

[Michelle_Nelson]

No question about it, this meat processor needs to be called out and raked over the coals!

There IS a question about it, Band. Witch hunts don't flatter our reputation as a forum community. 

There are two sides to most stories and the butcher deserves his day in "court" if we are going to run yet another a kangaroo court. Namely, its entirely possible that the severe meat shortage is explained by sloppy field care. IDK whether that's the case but having killed a few critters in my day I can see how a few sloppy habits can cause significant spoilage or waste.

Its entirely to unfair to a butcher to drag him over the coals if he was handed 100 pounds of boned out meat and 50% of it was filthy and expect that 100 pounds be delivered. I sure wouldn't go into business to put up with that.

Had the customer reported getting his meat back in a reasonable amount of time and simply complained about the lack of final product compared to what he brought in, I would not have wanted the business called out.  Simply because, as you suggest, we are only getting one side of the story and the meat very well could have been brought in with a lot of dirt, hair, or spoilage.  However, when the customer reports his order taking 3 months to be complete that is an enormous red flag that cannot be overlooked.  No above board butcher on the face of the earth will take 3 months to process a game animal and that tells me there is funny business going on at the processor.

No butcher is going to leave an Elk hanging in the Cooler for 2.5 months before cutting and wrapping.  The Elk would be way beyond a little funk after that amount of time.

How do we know the Elk wasn't butchered within 2 weeks after being brought in and they couldn't get a hold of the customer for pick up? 

Maybe one of the numbers in his phone number looked to much like another due to bad hand writing and they called and left messages on someone else machine?  Until someone figured it out.

Or after it was cut up the person responsible for making calls simply picked up 2 call sheets instead of 1 when going to the next person to call skipping over the OP by accident?

Someone may have just simply thought they or someone else had made the call? 


If damaged meat had to be removed and discarded due to bone sour, injury, infection, poor field care, etc. . . .   Could be part of the reason he got more burger that steak and the pounds he got back?  Depends on how much they had to remove in how many different places or had to discard a full quarter. 

There are a lot of things that could be going on here.

[grundy53]

Yep, lot's of excuses...

[Michelle_Nelson]

Luckily for the butchers up here the bag limits are a lot less generous and demand is a lot less over all.

Yeah, but they have more Beef, Pork, Lamb, and game coming in from out of state, on top of what is brought in from local hunters. 

Down there Deer Processors are open for roughly 4 months a year.  Then closed for 8. 

[KFhunter]

Yep, lot's of excuses...

All of which should have been addressed at the drop off, any butcher is going to immediately see problems with the animal and let the hunter know what's up.
Anything else that wasn't noted at drop off should have triggered a phone call.